And william hollis



(No Model.) 3 Sheets- Sheet 1.

E. ERMOLD & W. HOLLIS.

ENVELOPE MACHINE V Patented Jan. 30,1894.

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ENVELOPE MAGHINE (No -Model.)

.No. 513,491 Patented Jan. 30, 1894.

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E. ERMOLD &I W. HOLLW.

. ENVELOPE MACHINE.

Nd. 513,491. Patented m. 30, 1894."

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- WITNESSES:

NITED STATES ATENT Prion.

EDWARD ERMOLD, OF NEW YORK, AND WILLIAM HOLLIS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK; SAID HOLLIS ASSIGNOR TO SAID ERMOLD.

ENVELOPE-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 513,491, dated January 30, 1894.

Application filed April 21, 1892. Serial No- 430,032. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that we, EDWARD ERMOLD, residing in the city and county of New York, and WILLIAM HOLLIS, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, State of New York, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelope-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

IO This invention relates to certain improvements in envelope-machines and more espe cially to improvements in the devices by which the gummed and folded envelopes are counted in such a manner that always the r 5 same number of envelopes are obtained in the bunches, and that the counting device is not operated in case any one of the arms of the endless reel by which the envelopes are supplied, does not contain an envelope; and the invention consists of the combination, with the envelope-reel and guide-plate below the same, of an oscillating pusher by which the envelopes are transmitted to the bombingshelf mechanism located between the arms of the launching-reel and the pawl and ratchetwheel mechanism by which the number of envelopes delivered to the shelf are counted, and mechanism by which the action of the counting mechanism is intermittently discontinued when one of the arms of the reel is not supplied with an envelope, as will be fully described hereinafter and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 5 represents an end elevation of our improved envelope-machine with our improved bunchcounting mechanism. Fig. 2 is a Vertical longitudinal section of the same on line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail of the mechanism for interrupting the action of the counting mechanism, in case of a non-supply of an envelope by one of the arms of the envelope reel, and Fig. 4 is aplan of the envelope machine partly in horizontal section.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the supporting-frame of an envelopemachine with our improved envelope-counting mech- 5o anism.

B is the cam-shaft from which the different parts are operated.

0 represents an endless bunching reel to the arms of which the envelopes are delivered from the folding-mechanism, said reel being of sufiicient length so as to dry the gummed sealing flaps, while the envelopes pass from the upper to the lower part of the endless belt the envelopes being moved when at the lower part of the reel along an inclined guidcplate 0' to the bunching shelf D. 'The envelopes are moved by the arms of the reel O along the guide-plate C until they arrive at the rear-end of the same, where they are suc cessively engaged by a curved finger d, which 6 5 is gradually pressed back by the envelope as it is carried onward by the arm of the reel 0 until the envelope is moved clear over the rear end of the guide-plate and subjected to the action of two oscillating pusher-arms E which are attached to a transverse shaft E that is supported in bearings e of the supporting-fra1ne A, said pusher-arms E being adjustable to a certain extent by means of slotsin the adjustable end-sections and set-screws in the main portions of the arms, as shown clearly in Fig. 4. The curved finger d also serves to hold each successive envelope in a vertical position, by clamping it loosely against the arm of the reel,until said envelope is carried over the end of the guideplate and is struck by the vertically oscillating pusher-arm and transferred to the bunching-shelf below. The shaft E" to which the pusher-arms are attached, is provided at its end with a crankarm e to which is pivoted a connecting rode that is guided by its forked opposite end on the driving-shaft B and provided with an antifriction roller e that is acted upon by a cam e on the driving-shaft, so that a quick oscil- 9o lating motion is imparted to the pusher-arms E at each. rotation of the cam-shaft, and thereby the envelope transferred along a convex push-plate F onto the bunching shelf D which is located back of the push-plate F, as shown 5 clearly in Fig. 2. A helical spring e that is attached to the upper end of the connecting rod e and to a fixed transverse rod at the lower part of the supporting frame A serves to keep the anti-friction roller e at the lower xoo end of the connecting rod in contact with the actuating cam e on the shaft B, so that the pusher arms are oscillated in downward direction at the proper time for transmitting thereby an envelope to the lower bunching shelf D.

The curved finger d is attached to a short shaft 01 that is supported in bearings supported on an auxiliary bracket-shaped platform D above the bunching shelf D, the end of the shafts 01 being provided with a crankarm, (1 to the lower end of which is supplied an adjustable weight (1 while the upper end is connected by a pivot-rod d with an oscillating arm 10 which is pivoted to an angular hanger-arm D that is attached to the under side of thebunching-shelf D and provided with bearings for a shaft D to which is loosely applied a ratchetwheel D provided with twentyfive teeth which are engaged by a gravity-pawl d" at the upper end of the oscillating arm D that swings loosely on the shaft D. To the lower end of the oscillating arm D is pivoted a connecting rod d the forked opposite end of which is guided on the cam-shaft B and provided with an anti-friction roller d that is acted upon by a cam d on the shaft B so that at each rotation of the shaft B, the ratchet-wheel D is moved by the pawl d for the distance of one tooth. A spring actuated check-pawl d is pivoted to the outer end of the hanger arm D and prevents the ratchet wheel from being moved in opposite direction. The lower end of the oscillating arm D is connected by a helical spring d with a fixed transverse-rod at the lower part of the supporting-frame so that the anti-friction roller d of the connecting rod 01 is retained in contact with the actuating cam d on the camshaft B and thereby the regular operation of the pawl and ratchet-mechanism, by which the number of envelopes forming a bunch are counted, is produced. To the hanger-arm D is pivoted a lever-arm p which carries afixed push-piece 10 that engages the outer end of the pawl (F of the ratchet-wheel D and serves to lift the same out of engagement with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel, as shown in Fig. 3, whenever the finger d is moved forward by the action of its weighted arm 61 This forward motion takes place whenever one of the arms of the envelope reel 0 is not supplied with an envelope because, in this case, there is no resistance to the finger cl by the envelope. As the push-piece p lifts the pawl (1" out of the teeth of the ratchet wheel D the latter is therefore not moved for the distance of one tooth by the rotation of the shaft 13 and the oscillating motion of the arm D so that for this brief interval of time the operation of the envelope counting-mechanism is interrupted. The lever-arm p is arrested by a fixed pin 19 on the hanger arm D so that the pawl cannot be lifted by the push piece beyond the dotted position shown in Fig. 3, that is to say, just clear of the teeth of the ratchet wheel. As soon as an envelope is moved forward by the succeeding arm of the envelope reel 0, the finger d is lifted again, together with its weighted arm 01 and the lever-arm p dropped back into its former position, so that the pawl 01* is returned into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel.

The convex push-plate F is applied to an arm f that is oscillated from the cam-shaft B by a suitable motion transmitting mechanism (not shown in the drawings) so that with each rotation of the cam-shaft B, an oscillating motion is imparted to the push-plate F, and thereby one of the envelopes fed to the same from the reel moved in backward direction over the bunching-shelf D, until the envelope is forced over the tranverse projection f of the shelf D and beyond hinged drops f that are pivoted to the auxiliary brackets D as shown in Fig. 1. The hinged dropsf give sufficiently to permit the upper part of the envelope to pass, while the lower part of the envelope is bent sufficiently to spring readily over the transverse projection g of the bunch- .ing shelf D. As the next envelope is fed by the push-plateF, the envelope that was moved on to the shelf by the preceding motion of the push-plate is pushed forward and so on, until twenty-four envelopes are thus passed over the shelf. When the twenty-fifth envelope is fed by the push-plate F on to the shelf, the ratchet wheel D has completed a full rotation. At this point a beveled nose It on the ratchet-wheel D engages the rear end of a fulcrumed lever h which is pivoted at its front end to a laterally sliding bar If, that is guided at the under side of the shelf D, so as to produce an oscillating motion to the lever h and a laterally sliding motion of the bar k To the opposite end of the guide-bar h is attached an upright push-plate 71 which is located back of the projection f. so as to engage the envelope that is just moved past said projection and the hinged drop f on the auxiliary brackets D, said plate pushing the twenty-fifth envelope in a lateral direction, so that it projects sufficiently beyond the remaining twenty-four envelopes of the bunch and forms an indicator that a full bunch of twenty-five envelopes is now completed. By the oscillating motion of the push piece F, the envelopes which are divided by the laterally shifted envelopes into bunches of twenty-five envelopes are regularly moved forward over the shelf D until they arrive at the rear part of the same where they are removed by the at tendant and bunched by applying a band around the same in the usual manner.

The new features of our improved counting-mechanism consists in the arrangement of the oscillating pusher-arms by which the envelope is quickly transferred along the push-plate to the bunching shelf and the mechanism by which the motion of the ratchet-wheel is interrupted when one of the arms of the envelope-reel is not provided with an envelope. In other words,'when there is a miss or an absence of an envelope in one of the arms of the envelope-reel so that the connecting mechanism between the drop finger and the pawl of the ratchet wheel lifts the pawl out of mesh with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel so as not to produce a forward motion of the ratchet-wheel by the action of the cam-shaft, the accurate and reliable counting of the bunches is produced.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of an envelope reel, a guide-plate below said reel, an oscillating finger in the path of the envelope, a weighted arm applied to the shaft of said finger, a pawl and ratchet wheel mechanism operated by a cam on the driving shaft, a pivoted arm, a rod connecting said pivoted arm with said finger, and a push-piece on said pivoted arm, which engages the pawl of the ratchet wheel and lifts it out of mesh with the teeth of said wheel when one of the arms of the envelopereel is not supplied with an envelope, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of an envelope-reel, a guide-plate below said reel, a bunching-shelf, an oscillating finger adapted to press on the envelopes as they are fed by said reel, a weighted arm applied to the shaft of the oscillating finger, a pawl and ratchet wheel mechanism supported below the bunchingshelf, a cam shaft, mechanism between the pawl and cam shaft for intermittently turning the ratchet-wheel, a lever arm pivoted to the hanging arm of the ratchet-wheel shaft, a fixed push-piece on said lever arm, a connecting rod between the weighted arm of the finger and the lever arm, and a stop piece on the hanger arm for regulating the movement of said push-piece, said push-piece serving to lift the actuating pawl out of mesh with the teeth of the ratchet wheel when by nonsupply of an envelope the weighted finger is dropped, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination of an envelope-reel, a guide-plate below said reel, a rearwardly extending bunching-shelf in a plane below said guide-plate, an oscillating weighted finger pressing successively on the envelopes as they are supplied by the arms of the reel and serving to hold each envelope in a vertical position, a vertically oscillating push arm adapted to strike the upper edge of the envelope when moved over the rear edge of the guide-plate, a cam shaft and actuating mechanism between the push arm and cam shaft, whereby an envelope is delivered to the bunching shelf at each rotation of the cam shaft, substantially as set forth.

4:- The combination of an envelope reel having hinged arms, a go ide-plate below said reel, a rearwardly extending bunching shelf in a plane below said guide-plate, an oscillating weighted finger pressing successively on the envelopes as they are supplied by the arms of the reel and serving to hold each envelope in a vertical position, a vertically oscillating push-arm adapted to strike the upper edge of the envelope when moved over the rear edge of the guide-plate, a convex push plate below the rear edge of the guide-plate, a cam on the driving shaft, actuating mechanism between thepusher-arm and said cam, and a bunching-shelf back of the push-plate, substantially as described.

In testimonythat we claim the foregoing as our invention we have signed our nannies in presence of two subscribing witnesses E. ERMOLD. WM. HOLLIS.

Witnesses:

PAUL GoEPEL, CHARLES SoHRoEnER. 

